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Elon Musk Briefly Loses Title as World’s Richest Person to LVMH's Arnault  

Elon Musk arrives at the In America: An Anthology of Fashion themed Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, US, May 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Elon Musk arrives at the In America: An Anthology of Fashion themed Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, US, May 2, 2022. (Reuters)
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Elon Musk Briefly Loses Title as World’s Richest Person to LVMH's Arnault  

Elon Musk arrives at the In America: An Anthology of Fashion themed Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, US, May 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Elon Musk arrives at the In America: An Anthology of Fashion themed Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, US, May 2, 2022. (Reuters)

Twitter owner and Tesla boss Elon Musk briefly lost his title as the world's richest person on Wednesday, according to Forbes, following a steep drop in the value of his stake in the electric-car maker and a $44 billion bet on the social media firm. 

Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of luxury brand Louis Vuitton's parent company LVMH, and his family briefly took the title as the world's richest, but were back at No. 2 with a personal wealth of $185.3 billion, according to Forbes. 

Musk, who has held the top spot on the Forbes list since September 2021, has a net worth of $185.7 billion. Musk took over the title from Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. 

Tesla shares, which have lost more than 47% in value since Musk made his offer to buy Twitter earlier this year, were down 2.7%. 

Musk's net worth dropped below $200 billion earlier on Nov. 8 as investors dumped Tesla's shares on worries the top executive and largest shareholder of the world's most valuable electric-vehicle maker is more preoccupied with Twitter. 

Tesla has lost nearly half its market value and Musk's net worth has dropped by about $70 billion since he bid for Twitter in April. Musk closed the deal for Twitter in October with $13 billion in loans and a $33.5 billion equity commitment. 

Besides Tesla, Musk also heads rocket company SpaceX and Neuralink, a startup that is developing ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect the human brain to computers. 

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Varieties

German Backpacker Escapes Australian Bush Ordeal by 'Sheer Luck'

German backpacker Carolina Wilga lost hope of rescue after 11 nights in the Australian bush. Handout / WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POLICE FORCE/AFP
German backpacker Carolina Wilga lost hope of rescue after 11 nights in the Australian bush. Handout / WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POLICE FORCE/AFP
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German Backpacker Escapes Australian Bush Ordeal by 'Sheer Luck'

German backpacker Carolina Wilga lost hope of rescue after 11 nights in the Australian bush. Handout / WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POLICE FORCE/AFP
German backpacker Carolina Wilga lost hope of rescue after 11 nights in the Australian bush. Handout / WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POLICE FORCE/AFP

German backpacker Carolina Wilga lost hope of rescue after 11 nights in the Australian bush, and only made it out by "sheer luck", police said Saturday.

The 26-year-old walked "confused and disoriented" 24 kilometers (15 miles) away from her van after it got stuck in remote bushland in Western Australia, AFP reported.

As police searched for her by air, the backpacker's ordeal ended Friday when she managed to flag down a woman driving by who took her to police.

"She is still in disbelief that she was able to survive. In her mind, she had convinced herself that she was not going to be located," said Jessica Securo, acting inspector for the Western Australia police.

The rescue was down to "sheer luck".

"I actually spoke to Carolina this morning, so she confirmed that she was very confused and disorientated," Securo told a news conference.

"She basically looked at the direction of the sun and tried to head west, thinking that that would be her best bet of coming across someone or a road."

Wilga had been last seen on June 29 arriving in the van at a general store in the small agricultural community of Beacon, northeast of Perth.

Police found the van on Thursday, abandoned after getting stuck in dense bushland north of Beacon, with plastic orange traction tracks placed beneath the rear wheels.

"It appears that she has somewhat lost control of the vehicle, and then it's become mechanically unsound, and bogged," Securo said.

- 'Overwhelmed' -

She stayed with the van for one day before leaving the vehicle through "panic", hoping to find help.

Wilga was found "exhausted, dehydrated and hungry", suffering from cuts and bruises, but "overwhelmed" to have found someone to help her.

"She had minimal food and minimal water. From speaking to her, she has said she could have planned better."

The terrain "can be quite dangerous", Securo added.

Wilga remained in a Perth hospital and was not expected to be released on Saturday, still needing "emotional support" and treatment for some injuries.

"She's had a good night's sleep. She's had a shower. We've got her some food, which was a massive relief for her. So she's just taking it one day at a time at the moment."

The backpacker is now in "frequent communication" with her family who are relieved and thankful the Western Australian community came together to "throw every resource at locating their daughter", Securo said.

The family had no plans at this stage to travel to Australia.

Police say Wilga had spent two years backpacking around the country, and was working at mine sites in Western Australia while staying mostly at hostels.

"Carolina has told me that she loves Australia. She still has so much travel to do here. She hasn't made it over to the east coast yet, so that's still on her bucket list."